Water PVT collectors performance comparison

Flat plate PVT water based technology presents many advantages in terms of overall performance and space saving than the PV modules and the solar thermal collectors installed separately. However, the electrical and the thermal performances of the PVT technologies are more deeply related to different influences factors, among which: the presence or absence of the air gap formed by the transparent frontal cover, the absorber configuration and the adopted PV technology. For that reasons, the proposed research is aimed to assess, under the energy point of view, a comparison between a covered and an uncovered PVT water collectors, realized with different PV cells coupled to two aluminium roll-bond absorbers characterized also by different channel arrangements. The performance analysis is based on energy simulations carried out with two mathematical models validated on experimental data at the Test Facility of the Politecnico di Milano.